I had a feeling I might never figure it out unless I found a killing floor in someone’s basement. And how likely was it that I could enter every single home and search with no argument?
I slammed the papers down and screamed in frustration. I knew I wouldn’t find the answer overnight, but this was driving me insane. The more in-depth I got, the more I needed to know, and the answers wouldn’t come fast enough.
“Babe?” Parker called out from the other room.
“In here!”
I wasn’t ready to put any of this down for the night, but a break might help clear things up for me. Gathering the papers and stacking them neatly, I grinned as Parker walked through the door, but he was definitely not happy.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
“We have company.”
Grimacing, I looked down at myself. “I hope it’s family. I’m not really dressed for visitors.”
“Oh, it’s definitely family,” he chuckled humorlessly. Then he winced as he put pressure on his right leg.
“What happened?” I asked, rushing over to him.
“It’s—”
I didn’t see any blood or signs of a wound, but when I jerked up his pant leg, I gasped in horror.
Blakewas tattooed across the entire length of his calf, along with a bunch of fancy script I couldn’t read.
“What the hell is this?”
Parker opened his mouth to answer, but a very familiar voice beat him to the punch.
“That’s to remind him that he will always be attached to you, and if he ever fucks up, I will put another one across his chest,” my dad said as he strode into the kitchen. “I think it looks pretty nice.”
Slowly, I got to my feet, shocked to find not only him, but all but one of my brothers standing in my house. “What…how are you here?”
“Well, it’s a funny thing,” Dad grinned, scratching his jawline. “We got a call from a friend of yours. A Sheriff Maverick Wynne. Funny guy. He said you pushed him through a window.”
“Yeah? Well, I’m gonna push him through another,” I muttered.
“You know, when you said you were getting married, I thought for sure you would call us when that whole nasty business was over and clue us in as to a wedding date. I thought you were still in Pennsylvania.”
“Sir, I already told you, I have every intention of marrying your daughter.”
“You’d better. You knocked her up!”
“You told him?” I gasped.
Dad chuckled, shaking his head. “He didn’t. The town sheriff did. Nice man, though I didn’t think I would find out quite so much about my daughter from a stranger.”
“Sir, we’ll plan the wedding as soon as possible.”
“We will?” I asked, a little shocked that he was just taking over. Then again, Parker always did do his own thing.
“I was thinking next weekend.”
“Next weekend?” I said, surprised at how quickly this was moving.
“Can’t have that kid coming out?—”
“Watch it,” Parker snarled.
